Alarm for indicating life in buried persons.



A. M. BARTHOLOMEW.

ALARM FOR INDIUATING LIFE IN BURIED PERSONS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31, 1909. 956,268.

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Patented Apr. 26, 1910 I Alber'TMfiakTholomew. l y 3 a A. M. BARTHOLOMEW. ALARM FOR INDIUATING LIFE IN BURIED PERSONS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31, 1909. 956,268, Patented Apr. 26, 1910.

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ALBERT M. BARTI-IOLOMEW, OF STOCKTON, CALIFORNIA.

ALARMFOR INDIGATING LIFE IN BURIED PERSONS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 31, 1909.

Patented Apr. 26, 1910.

Serial No. 487,046.

To all whom it may concern: 1

Be it known that I, ALBERT M. BARTH0L0- MEW, a citizen of the United States, residing at Stockton, in the county of San Joaquin, State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Alarms for Indicating Life in Buried Persons; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, suchas will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this application.

This invention relates to a means of ascertaining or detecting whether or not a person has been inadvertently buried alive and if so to give such an alarm as will arouse the attendants of the cemetery or other burial place and thereby enable them to unearth them from their graves. I also aim to produce a simple and inexpensive, yet effective device for the purpose and one which can be readily used on a plurality of graves with but small waste of material. These objects I accomplish by means of a rod removably connected with the casket and projecting upward through a pipe to the surface of the earthby means of which rod one end of the casket can be elevated and suspended upon a spring having a releasing latch whereby when there is a movement in the casket such latch releases an arm which arm is on the main shaft of an actuating spring having operatively connected therewith an alarm or gong which sounds intermittently when said actuating spring is started in motion by the release of the arm as aforesaid. I also employ such other and further structure and relative arrangement of parts as will more fully appear by a perusal of the following specificationand claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views.

Figure 1 is an end elevation of the complete device, as appears above ground. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation, partly in section, of the complete device. Fig. 4 is an enlarged View of the spring which sustains the casket. Fig. 5 is a top plan view of a flanged collar.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings 1 designates supporting legs supporting a frame 2 at the top of which is suspended an alarm or gong 3.

Extending downward from the frame 2 is a beam 4 having removably bolted at its lower end two projecting flanges 5 spaced apart and having alined perforations movable in which is a rod 6 having a projecting latch member 7 having a perforation in its outer end there being a spring 7 interposed between said latch member and the lower one of said flange members 5.

Removably connected with the lower end of the rod 6 is a bifurcated member 8 having a threaded shank 9 screwed into a bar 10, which bar 10 is adjustably secured in the top of a tube 19 which in turn is telescopically secured in a tube 18 projecting through the earth and fitting over a perforated collar 12 on the coflin box 13, there being a rod 11 screwed or otherwise fastened into the inner end of said bar 10 and extending through said tubes 19 and 18 and being screwed to a vertically disposed arm pivotally connected or hinged as at 15 to a plate 16 secured to the head of a casket 17. Any fixed position of the bar 10 in the tube 19 can be attained by means of a set screw 21 projecting through said tube 19 and impinging against said bar 10. Similarly any fixed position of the tube 19 within the tube 18 by means of a set screw 20 projecting through said tube 18 and impinging upon said tube 19.

In practice the casket 17 is tilted at the end on which the plate 16 is secured, by means of the adjustability of the parts 11, 1.8, 19 and 10 as described to be suspended on the spring 7. An arm 22 normally engages the latch and is keyed to a shaft 23 on which is mounted an actuating spring 24; in a similar manner as is the main spring of a clock upon the driving shaft thereof. On said shaft 23 is fixedly mounted a pinion wheel 25 intermeshing with a pinion wheel 26 on a shaft 27 and on said shaft is also fixedly mounted a wheel 28 having a plurality of lugs 29 projecting from its face and spaced apart and normally engaging one of said lugs is an arm 30 fast on a shaft 31 having a top knob 32 there being a spring 33 to actuate the arm to cause the knob 32 to strike the gong 3. On the shaft 27 is an esarm 22 from the latch 7 thus permitting the actuating spring 24; to drive the gears 25, and 26 and hence the wheel 28 to cause the arm 30 to be intermittently engaged and released fro-1n the lugs 29 and each time itis so released the spring 33 drives the knob 32 against the gong 3, thus sounding an alarm. The spring 24 may be wound up by a handle 23 on the arm 22.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a means for detecting the burial of people alive as substantially fulfils the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

\Vhile this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to se cure by Letters Patent is 1. A device of the character set forth comprising in combination a casket, a rod thereon, a spring on said rod, the weight of said 

